10-year-old Daniela Villareal has been battling leukemia for four years, so it comes as no surprise when she launched an effort to raise money for equipment that will benefit other children being treated at South Texas’ Vannie E. Cook Jr. Children’s Cancer and Hematology Clinic.

Everybody who knows 10-year-old Daniela Villareal talks about how strong and selfless she is, even though she’s been battling leukemia for four years. So it came as no surprise when she launched an effort to raise money for equipment that will benefit other children being treated at South Texas’ Vannie E. Cook Jr. Children’s Cancer and Hematology Clinic, a joint effort of the Vannie E. Cook Jr. Cancer Foundation, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital

Daniela’s campaign made it all the way to office of the first lady of Texas, Anita Perry, and on May 15, Perry visited the Vannie Cook clinic in McAllen to announce a $10,000 gift from the 2007 Texas Inaugural Fund toward the purchase of the VeinViewer Imaging System.

“Cancer is an illness that touches many Texans,” said Perry, a former nurse. “We must have a strong vision to find a cure for cancer in the near future as well as to promote medical research in Texas, and we must continue to comfort those young Texans who already suffer from this tragic illness.”

The VeinViewer is a machine that uses near-infrared light to image a patient’s vascular structure, allowing physicians, nurses and other health care professionals to clearly see viable veins to administer cancer treatment and draw blood. It will make treatment easier and less painful by reducing the number of needle sticks in young patients, said Janie Avila, a nurse at the Vannie Cook clinic.

“Even though we have some of the best nurses here at our clinic, sometimes it’s very difficult to find a vein, so this machine will be very useful,” said Dr. Rodrigo Eraña, a physician at the Vannie Cook clinic who has been treating Daniela.

“I wanted to save a lot of kids from crying when they have to get stuck with a needle over and over again,” Daniela said.

Eraña describes Daniela as a quiet girl, but one who is still willing to put in her two-cents worth. “She always has a smile and despite everything that she’s been through, she’s never complained. She’s enriched my life. She’s why I do this job,” said Eraña, assistant professor of pediatrics – hematology at Baylor College of Medicine.

Daniela was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia in October 2003, when she was only 7 years old. Nine months into her treatment, Daniela became paralyzed, a very rare condition of the disease. The youngster, who lives in El Sauz, about an hour from McAllen, has been able to receive most of her treatment at the Vannie Cook clinic.

Daniela has made two trips to Houston for treatment at the Texas Children’s Cancer Center, including in fall 2006 to receive a bone marrow transplant. Since that procedure, Daniela has experienced a relapse.

But it was during that visit that Daniela learned about the VeinViewer. “I was reading a magazine while we were at the center one day,” recalled her mother, Dolly, “and she asked to look at it. She always wants to read whatever I’m reading, but in this case, she saw the ad for the VeinViewer. She said, ‘Oh, mom, that’s so cool.’”

“I wanted to save a lot of kids from crying when they have to get stuck with a needle over and over again,” Daniela said.

When Daniela returned home, she wrote a letter asking for donations that was printed in local publications and sent to people in the community. But it was someone she met in Houston who led her to Perry. Esmerlda Correa, who also lives in the Valley, was undergoing cancer treatment in Houston when she met Daniela in their hotel lobby. The two became fast friends, and when Correa heard about Daniela’s campaign, she contacted her sister, Minnie Salinas, an assistant to Perry.

“Daniela touched my heart, and I felt I had to do something for her and other youngsters like her. She’s an inspiration to me,” Correa said.

Daniela showed her appreciation to Correa and Perry by presenting them with homemade pecan pies. She was surrounded during Perry’s visit by her mom and dad, David, little brother Diego and her grandparents as well as aunts, uncles, cousins, teachers and many friends.

How Daniela Villareal brought the VeinViewer to Vannie Cook

As an international leader in pediatric cancer research and treatment, Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers are joint programs of Texas Children's Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. The Centers are dedicated to providing novel therapies and family-centered care to children from infancy through young adulthood with cancer and blood disorders – from the most common to very rare. Texas Children’s Cancer Center is the pediatric program of BCM’s NCI-designated Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center.
Ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the #2 Center in the United States, Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers treats more childhood cancer and hematology patients than any other program in the U.S., with patients coming from 35 states and 26 countries around the world.